Danger comes knocking.

The wise go running.

The slow lay failing.

The swift pant, cursing.

The loud stand screaming.

The meek kneel, praying.

The generous reach, helping.

The fools come rushing.

The weak lay, joining.

The Strong remain.

All hurt.

All suffer.

Who does Courage claim?

 

Courage always went unquestioned in my mind as a child.  It held the title of “Axiom” in my mind, and that was, dare I say it, erroneous.  These days, Courage and Bravery need a bit of defining, and there are a few questions to be asked.

Batman vs Superman (hold your judgment) hits one of them on the head for me.  There is a ‘small’ scene in that movie where Batman and Superman come to blows.  In it, after Superman has underestimated Batman’s ingenuity and dedication to his destructive task and allowed himself to be weakened, Batman monologues the following line:

“Breathe it in, that’s fear…   You’re not brave.  Men are brave… It’s time you learn what it means to be a man.”

Batman was deducing from an assumption, of course, and he turned out to be wrong on his own terms.  But I want to talk about his premise.  He implied an interesting question:  Does someone have to be in any real danger to act courageously?  Batman assumed that Superman acted selflessly because he had nothing to lose, or better put, “he couldn’t lose anything.” Invulnerability and all.

Does an absence of mortal danger nullify courage?  I’m inclined to say no.  I Someone in danger of losing an arm could act courageously.  Someone in danger of losing a friendship could act courageously.  Risking the loss of a job, a fall from high social standing or any other social upheaval would easily be considered courageous if done for a morally justifiable reason.

“What’s Morally right, then?” You may ask.  That is a much bigger question than Bravery/Courage, and I don’t wanna talk about it right now.

I guess the Batfleck takeaway is that courage requires sacrifice or at least a real possibility of loss.  But, surprising as it may seem,  don’t hold a monopoly as the only viable source of virtue in this world.

What made you think about Courage and question our varying concepts of it?  I can think of numerous other historical examples, like Joan of Arc, and more modern ones like the heated ‘conversation’ over whether Caitlyn Jenner’s surgery constituted bravery.

From there flow another set of conversations, like “Can labeling ‘brave’ the actions of one person actually detract value from the courage of another?”  (I’ll answer that one for you: No.),  and “what is the difference between Bravery, Stupidity, and Stubbornness?”  Does it come down to who we label ‘right’ in the end?  Does the victor write the story and the moral?  Maybe.

I’d love to know what you, the readers, think about all this.

Peace out, girl scouts.

~M